


Take a Shine

by Rowantreeisme



Series: Star!Tony [1]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: All-Powerfull Tony Stark, Body Horror, Gen, Humor, SHIELD, Star!Tony, Tony Stark Does What He Wants, Tony-centric, possibly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-04
Updated: 2017-07-04
Packaged: 2018-11-23 13:30:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,734
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11403399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rowantreeisme/pseuds/Rowantreeisme
Summary: In which Tony Stark can control the universe, and has been subconsciously and unknowingly since he was born. Then he files into a wormhole, andsees.





	Take a Shine

Tony flew through the portal with a warhead in his hands.   
  
He let go, and he wasn’t scared.   
  
_Hello,_ something whispered, thousands, millions, infinite voices speaking as one, around him and inside him and part of him. _Hello._   
  
Tony thought that he probably should be scared, considering the circumstances. The portal was closing behind him, he could see the lack of light, the ring of fire from the nuke was roaring towards him, and there was a voice speaking to him.   
  
He wasn’t, though. The voice felt familiar, comforting, even. _Hi?_ He thought back, and felt a rush of delight, as bright and warm as a star.   
  
Because it was a star, he realised. He was speaking to the stars.   
  
Welcome home. They said, their happiness and love as big as them, bigger, stretching across the universe.   
  
And Tony wanted. He wanted to stay here, in the stars, where he belonged. _I can’t stay._ He whispered, and it was sorrowful, an apology, because they needed him down there, Pepper and Rhodey and JARVIS and his bots, they needed him and he needed them and he couldn’t leave them, not even for the stars. _I have to go back._ _  
_   
The stars understood. We will see you. They said, as they nudged him, wrapped him in starlight and carried him back towards the portal. _We will miss you, Ours._ They whispered back, and the title, theirs, was more than a title, it was his name, his history, his elemental makeup, all contained in a single word, a word that meant everything, meant brother and father and child and creator and family.   
  
The sheer force, the sheer scope and immensity of that single word was enough to knock him out, and Tony fell.

* * *

  
  
“Please tell me nobody kissed me.” Was the first thing he gasped out when he woke up, back on earth, back where he didn’t quite belong, blue sky above him and hard ground below him and gravity.   
  
Except now he understood. He could see. The universe was in his head and all around him and he could feel it all. He didn’t even feel the need to explore this new piece of him because it’d always been there, just hidden, unknown.   
  
There was relief on Rogers’s face, for just a split second, before it was replaced with shock and a little bit of horror, and he nearly scrambled backwards. “What?” Tony said, and tried to lift his head, which was really hard considering the armour was still unpowered.   
  
He didn’t feel very hurt. Or, at least not the amount of hurt that would have Rogers looking like that. “Your- your eyes.” He stammered, and Tony squinted at him, before turning to the Hulk, who sniffed him.   
  
Tony blinked. “I really don’t know what to say to that. And Cap, I know my vision isn’t exactly 20/20, but there’s no call for rudeness.” He said, and tried to push himself to his feet.   
  
It did not work. He glanced around at Rogers, and Thor, who Tony hadn’t noticed before but was wearing a slightly awestruck expression. “Little help, here?” He asked, exasperated. “And, where the hell is my faceplate?” He asked, after Thor had helped him to his feet. Once he was standing, movement was easy, which he was grateful for as he turned to look for it.   
  
Thor handed him the piece of metal, and all Tony could do was stare at it. ‘What the fuck did you do?” He said, incredulous and a little offended. “Did you- Did you rip this off!?” He exclaimed and looked up to Thor’s sheepish expression.   
  
“I apologise, _Stjarna Faðir,_ ” Thor said, gravely as if he had done more than break an easily fixable piece of metal. The title didn’t translate, or it couldn’t, the meaning, like the word the stars had used far too massive to have meaning in anything other than it’s native tongue.   
  
The base-code of the universe.   
  
_Creator of Stars. Creator of Us._ The stars translated, and Tony could tell they were pleased with the title. Tony grimaced, he’d never been one for elaborate titles, and patted Thor on his meaty bicep. Jesus, that thing was huge. “Nope. That won’t do. Just Tony’s fine.” He said, and missed Thor’s reaction as he looked down and thumped the reactor, which had somehow lost the connection to the suit, twice in rapid succession, and grinned in relief as the suit powered up. He looked around, at Thor, twirling his hammer.  _A gift_ , the stars explained, and all at once Tony could see it, see that hammer being forged in the heart of one of his siblings, see it becoming one. At Steve, still looking him in the eye, expression still that strange mixture of shock and fear, at the Hulk, who was poking at one of the fallen Chitauri, and at Natasha, who had appeared next to Tony at some point.   
  
Hadn’t she been on the roof…?   
  
She looked visibly shocked when she saw him, but schooled her expression quickly, saying something quickly into her comm. She nudged Steve, who’s shock finally seemed to wear off, transforming into worry, and then careful blankness, looking towards the tower, eyes narrowed. “We still have something else to deal with.” He said, and Tony sighed.   
  
He really wanted to have some Shwarma.

* * *

  
  
As soon as Loki had been apprehended, they all sagged in relief, having been controlling their various injuries through pure force of will for at least a half an hour. Natasha was the only one who still looked mildly put together, but Tony suspected that was more agent training than anything else. She looked at all of them, assessing. “We’re going to medical.” She said, carefully avoiding Tony’s gaze, seriously, what was with that?   
  
Tony thought of refusing for a second, and then he moved and one of the bent portions of the armour pressed painfully into his ribs, and he reconsidered. “And then Shawarma?” He asked hopefully.   
  
No one responded.   
  
They walked to the New York SHIELD base in silence, flanked by agents. Thor and Hulk taking up the rear, Clint and Steve leaning heavily on each other, Tony, and then Natasha in the lead, picking over rubble with strained grace. Tony sped up slightly, falling into step beside her. “Ok, what’s going on?” He asked when her expression twisted slightly, glancing at his eyes and then away as if she couldn’t look directly at him.   
  
She looked at him, like she was seeing into him, assessing and suspicious, then sighed. She spun, wrenched a wing mirror off a car and held it up to him.   
  
Tony blinked.   
  
His eyes were jet-black and filled with stars, like someone had poured the universe into his skull.   
  
Exactly like someone had poured the universe into his skull. “Huh.” Was all he said, and as he watched, there was a bright flare somewhere in the depths. A supernova.   
  
He could feel it, the energy and life and power, a star’s death and a nebula’s birth. He blinked, and he could see it, the gamma-ray burst and the flare, reflected in his eyes. He looked back to Natasha, who was watching him warily, but she didn’t look surprised. “You don’t seem all that shocked,” she said, and they continued walking.   
  
“Neither do you.” Tony countered and stopped to blast a car out of the way. They were getting to the edge of the battleground, and without a word, Natasha passed him a pair of sunglasses.   
  
“How do you feel?” She asked, carefully neutral, and Tony could imagine that same blank mask on her face as she faced off the Hulk. She seemed less… something, though, now that she couldn’t see his eyes.   
  
Tony snorted. “How do you think I feel?” He asked. ‘I feel like I’ve been thrown out a window, eaten by a space monster, and caught by the Hulk. Thanks for that, by the way-” He said, walking backwards for a second to shoot the big green guy a finger gun, before spinning back to face forwards. “-I feel like I have more bruises than I can count and at least one cracked rib.” He finished and glanced at her, serious. “But that’s not what you’re asking, are you. You’re asking if I’m having any unusual megalomaniac urges. You’re asking if I’m a threat.” He said, quiet enough that he was sure only she heard him.   
  
She chuckled. “Stark, don’t kid yourself. You’ve always been a threat.” She said, and quirked an eyebrow at him. “With or without whatever you’ve got now. But yes, that is what I’m asking.”   
  
Tony thought about it. Thought about millions of galaxies swirling in his head, each one with millions of stars and how he could feel all of them. All the power and vision that should’ve been far too much for any mind to handle, but wasn’t. That just felt right. “I feel,”  He started, searching for words. “I feel the same.” Natasha looked at him in disbelief. “I know, I know. But, I do. I am the same. All of this-” He gestured, the action woefully inadequate to describe the sheer magnitude of everything he could see. “-It’s been there the whole time. It’s just, now I can understand it.” He explained.   
  
Natasha nodded, his answer apparently adequate, and they put their discussion on pause as they entered the SHIELD building.

* * *

  
  
Apparently, having space for eyes was ground for being hustled off into the bowels of SHIELD by an army of warry medics and scientists.   
  
Who could’ve guessed.   
  
Tony stuck out his arm as yet another doctor person took a worrying amount of blood from him.   
  
He was humouring them, and they knew it. Even without the Armour, because he’d gotten JARVIS to fly it back to the tower rather than leave it with SHIELD, nothing was going to stop him from walking out.   
  
And, if he was being honest with himself, he did want to be sure that he wasn’t going to die from radiation poisoning or something.   
  
Another scientist shone a penlight in his eye, and just to be a dick, he let the accretion disk from Sagittarius A shine back. The scientist blinked and swore, covering his eyes, and Tony grinned. “Don’t blind my scientists, Stark.” A gruff voice said from behind him, and Tony turned on his stool, smiling sharply.   
  
“So, Nicky. What’s the deal with _trying to nuke Manhattan,_ Huh?” He bit out coolly, crossing his arms over his chest and glaring.   
  
Fury held up his hands in surrender. “Not my idea, not my authorization.” He said. “You’ll have to take it up with the WSC.”   
  
Tony snorted and hopped off the stool. “I’ll be sure to do that. Did you want anything? Because I’m going to go. Collect my team, maybe. Get some Shwarma.” He said, and Fury raised an eyebrow at him. “I am not staying. Your vampires have already got like a gallon of my blood, that should keep ‘em happy.” He said and shouldered past one of the vampires in question to get out the door.   
  
“Stark.” Fury called, stopping him just inside the doors. “Coulson’s alive.”   
  
Tony physically turned to give him his best look. “I _know_. I have the entire fucking universe in my head. You better have told the others first.” He said shortly. Of course, it was really JARVIS who’d told him, but there was no reason he couldn’t let Fury think he knew everything.   
  
Fury held his gaze with a surprising amount of steadiness. “They know. Natasha will have a packet for you in the morning.” Tony nodded in acceptance and left.

* * *

  
  
He found Bruce first, looking very uncomfortable sitting on his own in a small medical room, wearing SHIELD standard clothes that were both too big and too small for him. Tony waltzed in like he owned the place, sunglasses perched proudly on his nose, and Bruce blinked in surprise as Tony walked right past him towards the cabinets, because SHIELD had been too busy admiring his eyes to actually get around to treating him.   
  
Which meant he had to do it himself. And if he could get Bruce on his side while doing it, all the better. “So, do you remember anything when you’re-” He started, rolling up his pant leg to get at a shallow cut on his shin, one of many where the dented armour had squeezed tightly enough to draw blood.   
  
“Not really.” Bruce replied, the words short as if it was physically painful to say them. Tony nodded, sensing that Bruce had more to say, and was rewarded when he started talking. “Why are you here!? You- you saw him. I thought you were just naive, but you’re still here! Why-”   
  
Tony cut off the barrage of confused and frustrated words. “Look, what do you remember?” He asked, and looked up from the third cut to Bruce, who was staring at him with open bafflement.   
  
He shook his head. “I genuinely do not understand you.” He said flatly, and Tony grinned.   
  
“Join the club, Green-Bean.” He said, and nudged Bruce when he just continued to stare at him.   
  
Bruce attempted a smile of his own, unpracticed and shy. “Space whales? There were space whales, right?” He asked.   
  
Tony nodded, gleefully. “Yep. Nothing else?” Tony asked, and when Bruce shook his head, Tony turned to look at the room. “JARVIS?” Tony asked, and one of the screens on the far wall obediently lit up. Bruce jumped, and Tony grinned at him. “JARVIS. My AI. You are so deep in SHIELD’s systems, aren't’ you buddy?” Tony directed the last part at JARVIS.   
  
“I still do not believe that the Director will take this breach of security lying down, Sir.” JARVIS responded, sounding both disapproving and amused.   
  
“Yeah, well, Fury can go suck a dick,” Tony responded cheerfully. “Bring up that video, you know the one.” He ordered, and a grainy, shaky cell-phone video appeared on the screen. Tony turned to Bruce. “You don’t know why I’m not afraid of you. This-” He gestured at the screen, and it started playing “-is why.”   
  
Bruce seemed to war with himself, seeming both not to watch and not willing to miss any second as the video played. For the first couple seconds, it was focused on Rogers, slinging his shield and staring up at the portal. And then there was shouting, and pointing, and the camera jerked to follow his path up the side of the tower, and into the portal. “Was that a nuke!?” Bruce asked, and turned to Tony, then back to the screen, then back to Tony. “How are you alive!?” Tony just nodded back at the footage, which Bruce turned back to, muttering under his breath about “Goddamn idiot, of course, he’s not afraid of me after a stunt like that.”   
  
Tony nudged him, kind of wishing he had popcorn. “Shhhh. This is my favourite part.” He said, and Bruce watched in stupefied silence as Tony fell from the closing portal, and the Hulk caught him. The footage closed. “I’m not afraid of you. Or him.” Tony emphasised. “He, you, saved my life.”   
  
Bruce was still staring at the now empty screen. Tony hopped off the counter and went to put what was left of the bandages back. “Did the nuke- did it damage your vision?” Bruce asked, a horrible non-sequitur, but Tony would take it.   
  
“Nah. Just sporting a spectacular pair of black eyes,” Tony said, laughing slightly at his own joke, and turned around. “So, Shawarma? You in?”   
  
Bruce ignored the last part, and leaned closer. “There’s no bruising. You don’t have-”   
  
Tony tilted his head, grinning, and let the sunglasses fall low on his nose. Bruce’s expression was magnificent. Just for his hopefully future science-buddy, he flashed through nebulae, supernovae, newborn stars and old white dwarfs. “I know, right?” He said, and made his way towards the door, pushing the sunglasses back up.   
  
“Correct me if I’m wrong, but they weren’t like that before,” Bruce said faintly and shook his head. “Shawarma? They’ll let me leave?” He asked, far too hopefully.   
  
Tony gave him a gleeful look. “Buddy, If you’re with me, they’re gonna be too scared to try and stop you.” Bruce did not look comforted by that. Tony rolled his eyes. “Don’t sweat it. C’mon. We’ve gotta get the rest of the team.”

* * *

  
  
Steve, Natasha, and Clint were patching each other up when Tony and Bruce found them. Steve took one look at his eyes, even behind the glasses, and looked away hastily. Natasha positioned herself slightly further in front of Clint, who mostly just looked confused. Tony marched right up, and stuck out his hand. “Tony Stark. I don’t think we’ve officially met. Aside from, you know, as a flying taxi service.” He said.   
  
Clint looked at his face, at his outstretched hand, and back to his face. He had the same “what the fuck is this asshole doing” look as Bruce, but eventually, he shrugged, and shook. Tony counted that as a victory.   
  
He spun around, back to Natasha, who still seemed suspicious of him, and Steve, who wouldn’t meet his eyes. “Great. Who’s ready for Shawarma?” He asked.   
  
Clint looked at Natasha, and they appeared to have an entire conversation with their eyebrows alone. “You weren’t joking.” Clint said, looking both gleeful and confused. It was a common reaction.   
  
“Birdie,” Tony started, serious as death. “I never joke about food. So? Who’s in? And where’s our resident god?” He asked, pointing out the obvious lack of big, blonde, and beefy, the second.   
  
“Guarding his “brother.” Clint said, and even though he didn’t physically make the air quotes, Tony could hear them just fine.   
  
There was a beat of silence, and Clint shrugged and hopped off the table. “I’ll never turn down free food. Nat?” He asked, and Natasha rolled her eyes.   
  
“If it means keeping you two out of trouble.” She answered easily, and turned the full weight of her gaze on Tony. “You still-”   
  
“Yes, my eyes are still windows into the infinite void of space.” He said, exasperated. “For now, just assume that if I’m still wearing the sunglasses, they’re still spacey.” He said. Natasha didn’t look all that impressed.   
  
Clint looked very confused. “This is some sort of in-joke, right?” He asked,    
  
Tony grinned, not answering, and turned towards the door. “I’ll get Thor, meet me outside, ok? Ok.”   
  
He didn’t wait for an answer.

* * *

  
  
They all met just outside SHIELD, Thor following Tony obediently after leaving Mjolnir to guard Loki. It was… a little weird to have the god of thunder following him around like a puppy. Though, Tony could see the resemblance between him and a golden retriever.   
  
The walk to the Shawarma place was short, and since the menu was mostly destroyed, what they ate was completely up to fate.   
  
Fate, and the man making it who was going about it like it was any other day. Tony respected the hell out of that dude.   
  
He could still see the stars, their centres and layers and how they worked, the whispers exchanged between them, the praise and joy in the ones that did carry life, or civilisation, of which there was a lot more than Tony would’ve thought, from supergiants to brown dwarfs and everything in between. Pulsars and quasars and neutron stars. There was so much…   
  
Someone tapped him on his shoulder. “Yes what?” Tony said eloquently, muffled around the bite of shawarma he’d forgotten he’d had in his mouth. looking around for the person who’d been probably trying to get his attention for the past couple minutes.   
  
Bruce was looking at him, concerned. “Are you ok?” He asked.   
  
This time, Tony chewed and swallowed before talking. “Yeah, I’m fine. Did you want something?” He asked. Bruce glanced down at Tony’s less than half-eaten shawarma, and Tony shoved it over. Bruce started to protest, and Tony waved him off. “It’s fine, I’m not hungry.”   
  
Bruce shot him a grateful look, and wolfed down the wrap-sandwich thing quicker than Tony would’ve thought humanly possible. There was silence, except for the sound of chewing and noisy slurping at straws, and the quiet swish-swish of the store owner and his broom. It was… kinda nice, being around people. “I,” He said, breaking the silence and drawing everyone’s eyes to his. Or, in the general direction of his face, “Have a great idea.”   
  
Natasha raised her eyebrows at him.   
  
He glared at her. “You shush. It’s a great idea. Perfect, even.”   
  
She still didn’t look like she believed him, but everyone else seemed interested.   
  
“Ok, first things first. Where the hell do you all live?” He asked, though it was rhetorical. Clint and Natasha lived in the SHIELD barracks, Steve had an apartment that he spent less time in than various gyms, destroying punching bags, Bruce had just got to New York, he’d either be at SHIELD or at some seedy motel, and Thor…   
  
He actually didn’t know about Thor. “Anyway,” He continued, when he realised that they were all looking at him expectantly, “Come live in the Tower. It’ll be great. Bruce-” He pointed at the man in question, who looked halfway to napsville, “-more lab space and funding than you’ll know what to do with. Clint-” He pointed at him, “-State of the art firing range that you don’t have to sign up for timeslots, and can use whenever the hell you want.” He paused. “And free food. Thor-”   
  
“Aye, Lord Anthony?” Thor said cheerfully, looking ridiculously pleased with his food, while Bruce and Clint seemed to be actually considering it.   
  
Tony blinked for a second at the title. “Ok, first of all, Tony. My name is Tony. Do you got that?”   
  
“Aye, Anthony.” Thor said, smiling serenely.   
  
Tony sighed. “That is the least formal you’re gonna get, isn’t it. Now, Foster, right? She’s your… I don’t even know, but you like her, she likes space, I’ve got space, will you move in if I can get her here?” He asked, though, by the way Thor was positively beaming, it wasn’t a question that needed answering.   
  
He dug his phone out of his pocket, and JARVIS pre-empted his command and dialled Jane Foster.   
  
It was picked up the the third ring. “Hello, Darcy, Jane Foster’s intern, at your service.” A youngish sounding woman answered in the flattest tone Tony had ever heard. “Unless you’re SHIELD. If you’re SHIELD, you can shove this phone, yes, the one you’re using, up your ass. I STILL HAVEN’T GOTTEN MY IPOD BACK YOU BASTARDS-” The girl yelled, and Tony had to hold the phone away from his ear.   
  
He liked Darcy. “Yeah, not SHIELD. Can I speak to Dr Foster?”   
  
There was silence, and then he had to hold the phone away again as Darcy called for Foster. Thor leaned over, and grinning, whispered loudly, “The lady Darcy is a valiant fighter, who has bested me in single combat. She is a worthy friend.”   
  
Tony blinked. That was certainly a story he was going to have to get later, but for now, Foster was on the phone. “Hello?” She said, rather distractedly, the words muffled, presumably from holding the phone to her ear with her shoulder. “I’m on a bit of a limited time-frame here, I’m sure you’ve heard so, did you want anything?”   
  
“Lab space and funding.” He said, there was stunned silence.   
  
“We don’t exactly have an abundance of either, and I don’t know what you’re playing at, but you better explain yourself or I’m going to have up and go back to trying to figure out how a wormhole opened in New York!” Foster snapped.   
  
Tony grinned. “Oh, I’m sorry. Tony Stark, here, and I meant lab space and funding for you.”   
  
There was the sound of crashing and yelling, and the next time someone spoke, it was Darcy. “What’s the catch.” She said, so deadly serious that Tony could totally believe she’d taken out Thor.   
  
“No catch. Recent events make me think that having a wormhole expert on hand might be a good idea, I want the best, and Dr. Foster is the best.” He said. Darcy made a suspicious humming sound, nearly drowning out Foster’s questions. “No catch.” He repeated. “Though, I will admit to having ulterior motives. I’m trying to get everyone in one place, and I’m going to be completely honest, I’m using Foster as bait for Thor.”   
  
There was a small thud, possibly the phone being dropped, and Darcy and Foster began arguing in hushed voices. Apparently, he was on speaker phone now. “Two conditions.” Foster said. “One, SHIELD gets nothing.” She bit out.   
  
“Done.” Tony said easily.   
  
“Two, Darcy comes with me.”   
  
“Done. They’ll be people over to pack up your stuff, plane tickets for whenever you can get to the airport, and I’ll send you a floor plan so you can pick your labs and rooms. You wanna talk to Thor?” Tony glanced at Thor, who was nodding his head so vigorously Tony was honestly afraid he was going to get whiplash. “He wants to talk to you.”   
  
There was a very high-pitched noise sound of agreement, and Tony tossed the phone to Thor, who caught it and moved to the side of the room, talking as loudly and gesturing as wildly as he would’ve if Foster would’ve been standing there.   
  
He looked back at Clint who shrugged. “I’m in if Nat’s in.” He said, and that was good enough for Tony.   
  
He turned to Bruce, who looked sheepish, grateful, and terrified in equal measure. “I don’t know-”   
  
Tony held out his hands and shook his head. “Ok, stop. If you’re worried about the big guy, I’ve got Thor. If anyone can contain him, not that I think he’ll need containing, it’s him.” Tony said. Bruce nodded tentatively, and Tony whooped.   
  
Natasha was looking at him expectantly. “And you.” Tony said, and grinned. “Fury’s probably going to order someone to do it anyway, so you can stick around to make sure I don’t blow up the sun or whatever the hell he thinks I’m likely to do.” He waited, a split second while Natasha thought about it, and then she nodded.   
  
An agreement.   
  
“Can you?” Steve asked, interrupting Tony’s moment of victory. “Blow up the sun, I mean.” He elaborated.   
  
Tony thought about that for a second. “Is it a possibility? Yeah.” He said. At everyone’s alarmed looks, except for Thor, who was still talking loudly and excitedly with Jane, he realised that might have been a little alarming, and backtracked. “Would I? Hell no. I live here, and the sun is, you know, pretty critical for life.”   
  
No one seemed any more reassured at that.   
  
Tony rolled his eyes. “Jesus, If I wanted to pull a Loki and take over the planet, I’d’ve done it already. I’m no less capable of taking over the world than I was yesterday, and no more willing to do it. I gave away my own company because I hated being in charge of it. I do not want to have to be in charge of the world.” He paused. “And, even if I did want to, blowing up the sun would kill everybody, and they’re be no one left to rule over, and even if I limited it to a massive solar flare to knock out electronics, why would I do that!?” He continued, getting louder and louder, irrationally angry at how terrible they thought his “take over the world” attempt would be. “I’m the tech guy. That is what I am known for. Though, I could shield my stuff beforehand…” He trailed off, lost in thought for a moment.   
  
“Okayyyy,” Clint said, smiling weakly and snapping Tony out of his thoughts. “You’re not taking over the world, right?”     
  
Tony frowned. They’d just been discussing that, hadn’t they? “No. Even if I did, I wouldn’t want it. I’d probably give it to Pepper.” He said, and heard Natasha mutter something that sounded suspiciously like, “That poor woman.”   
  
“Great!” Clint said, and clapped once, hard and sudden. “What about Steve.”   
  
Steve was… looking a little lost, and a lot concerned. Tony beamed at him. “Well, the team leader’s gotta go where the team goes, right Cap?” Tony said, and for a second, he’d actually forgotten their rocky start, in lieu of the relief that’d been on his face when he woke up.   
  
But, Steve smiled, just a little bit. “Yeah, I guess I do.”   
  
And then just like that, Tony had invited a team of superheroes to live in his house.   
  
Awesome.

* * *

  
  
When they walked back out into the city, it was dark out. Tony took lead, by some unspoken agreement, and they began walking back to the tower.   
  
Halfway back, Natasha nudged Tony, who was still sporting his sunglasses. “Look up.” She hissed, and Tony knew a threat when he heard one.   
  
He looked up.   
  
“Woah.” He said, and behind them, the rest of the team also turned their heads up. The stars were blazing, nearly as bright as they were inside his mind’s eye, nearly as bright as they had been inside the portal, so bright that the milky way stretched above them.   
  
Which, that the majority of New York still had power, should not have been possible, considering the light pollution. “Can you turn them down?” She hissed. “The civilians are freaking out.”   
  
Tony considered that, and slowly, so slowly it was near imperceptible, the stars dimmed. They were still brighter than they should’ve been, more constellations visible than normal in the foggy, bright New York nighttime.   
  
Tony grinned at Natasha, who shook her head. “ _Бог помог нам всем._ ” She whispered.   
  
_Gods can not help you. We are more._ The stars replied, quietly amused at Natasha’s plea. Tony agreed with both sentiments.   
  
God help them all, indeed.

* * *

  
  
There were delicious, delicious smells coming from what was apparently now the common kitchen, but Tony ignored them, and the man creating them, and bee-lined for the coffee machine.   
  
“Hey, Stark.” Someone called, and Tony grunted, not currently awake enough to engage in any conversation that involved coherent words on his part. The voice chuckled. “Infinite power, and he can’t function without coffee.” Clint, Tony had ingested enough computer who he was talking to, said.   
  
Tony flipped him the bird without looking and made a second cup.   
  
Once that was done, he turned around and surveyed the motley crew camped out in his kitchen. Clint was perched on top of a cabinet, eating mini wheats directly out of the box, wearing atrocious purple pyjamas. Bruce was cooking… Well, Tony didn’t know what it was, but it smelled really good, and there was a dark-haired girl sitting at the island, clutching a mug of coffee like it was a lifeline.   
  
For now, he ignored the girl, and turned to Bruce. “No.” He said, offended but mostly horrified. “Banner, what the hell!?” He asked, and Bruce looked up, hunching in on himself a little and opening his mouth to start what was probably an apology. Clint was watching with narrowed eyes, but Tony only cared about the fact that Bruce was still wearing the shitty SHIELD clothes he’d been given yesterday. “C’mon, Buddy, you are making my heart hurt, and I don’t need that.” Tony looked up at the ceiling helplessly. “JARVIS, did you tell the good doctor that he could get clothes? Like, literally anything that would be more comfortable than those? Did you sleep like that?” He asked, and now Bruce looked less like he wanted to crawl away to some forest in India, and more sheepish.   
  
“I, I kinda, well, crashed.” He explained, hand rubbing the back of his neck.   
  
Clint snorted. “Yeah, on the nearest soft surface. Which happened to be the carpet.” He said, and Tony gave Bruce a look he wasn’t sure translated with the state his eyes were in.   
  
His response was interrupted by the girl at the table. “Holy shit dude! What happened to your eyes?” Darcy, that was definitely Darcy’s voice, shouted.   
  
Tony looked at her, expression flat. “Space.” He said, completely deadpan, and turned to try and snag a delicious-looking ball thing from one of Bruce’s pans.   
  
His hand had barely brushed the thing when a wooden spoon smacked the back of his hand. He recoiled, clutching his hand, and shot a wounded look at Bruce. “They’re not done. You can have some when they’re done.” Bruce said patiently as if he was explaining it to a small child.   
  
Yeah, well if childishness was what Bruce expected, he’d get it. Tony stuck his tongue out at him, and dug in the fridge.   
  
It was, unsurprisingly, not well-stocked. He had no idea what Bruce was using to work his magic, but if it was actual magic, Tony was willing look the other way.   
  
Finding nothing he particularly wanted to eat, he closed the fridge and turned to the pantry, shaking out a couple tylenols into his hand and swallowing them dry because even having near-infinite power did not stop him from feeling like he’d been run over by a bus. Repeatedly. Without the armor.   
  
He took a seat at the island, where Darcy was surveying him with narrowed eyes. “That is freaky. Like, sci-fi/horror freaky. You look like the main antagonist on a Doctor Who episode.” Darcy said, not seeming at all freaked out. She tilted her head. “Actually, with the whole-” She gestured, a movement that Tony had no idea how to decipher. “-Thing, you’ve got the Cyberman impression down pat.”   
  
Tony made an offended noise. “Are you seriously comparing my technological marvel to a clunky piece of prop-department shit held onto a person by metallic duct-tape and hope?” He exclaimed, looking at Darcy with disbelief.   
  
She considered that, and nodded. “Yes, that does appear to be what I’m doing.”   
  
Tony opened his mouth for what he was sure would’ve been a scathing reply, but Bruce dropped a plate in food in front of him, another by Darcy, and reached up to pass one to Clint. Tony gave up the conversation in deference to inhaling the food on his plate.   
  
Turned out staying up half the night trying to create a new star makes you a little bit hungry.   
  
He had done it though, gathered together hydrogen and dust, parts of a nebula, a stellar nursery, until there was a tiny, newborn proto-star shining back at him.   
  
A small woman entered, wearing flannel pajamas that were way too big for her, and yawned as she navigated her way towards the coffee maker. She patted Darcy on the head as she passed, and Tony decided she must be Foster.   
  
She didn’t seem to notice him as she made herself coffee, or anyone but Darcy, for that matter, and she blinked owlishly when she turned back around and noticed that she was not alone. She flushed, embarrassed, and stammered, glancing around the room. “I didn’t know anyone else was here, thank you so much, Mr Stark-” She met his eyes, and stopped dead.   
  
Yeah, this conversation was going to have to happen a lot.   
  
She narrowed her eyes, a look Tony was very familiar with, scared but only a little, buried underneath burning curiosity, and took a step forwards. “Is that… Messier 13?” She asked.   
  
Tony had to think about that for a second, from earth to the cluster of stars, the angle and distance. After all, the stars didn’t name themselves, or at least, not in a way that at all translated to English or any language on any planet. “Yep.”   
  
“How-” She started, and stopped when Thor walked into the room, his presence like a freight train, loud and bright and far too chipper for the ass-crack of dawn, and Tony let his forehead thunk onto the countertop with a groan. From somewhere in the room, he heard Thor laugh. “There is no indignity in feeling battles past, Anthony!”   
  
It didn’t really help. Tony groaned, again. “More of me is bruises than not.” He admitted, and Thor laughed again.   
  
Coffee. Coffee could fix this.   
  
He was halfway through the cup when he realised that coffee was not supposed to have crunchy bits in it. He looked down at his coffee, and the mini wheats floating in it. He looked up at Clint. Back at the coffee.   
  
Tony shrugged, and downed it. Pepper was always telling him he needed more fiber anyways, and he sure as hell wasn’t going to waste coffee because there happened to be cereal in it.   
  
Clint gave him a grudgingly impressed look from his spot on top of the cabinet.   
  
Wait.   
  
“Why the hell are you on top of the cabinet?” Tony asked, narrowing his eyes.   
  
Natasha breezed into the room, dropping a large imposing-looking file in front of him with a bang. “It’s his thing. Don’t question it too much.” She said, somehow looking graceful even as she sat on the counter underneath and to the right of Clint, whispering up to him in what sounded like Russian.   
  
Bruce passed food to Foster and Thor, the later who dug in with abandon, the former pelting Bruce with scientific questions that Tony listened in on with half an ear. After they were both finished eating, they left, presumably to check out their new labs. Darcy pulled Thor away soon after, and Tony was left with Clint and Natasha.   
  
Clint hopped down, feet near soundless on the landing, and left.   
  
Just him and Natasha, then. “Did you know that there are 1.15709618424 stars in the observable universe?” He said, not looking up, because that’s what they’d agreed. A wordless, between-the-lines promise, but a promise nonetheless. He smiled a little. “1.15710483924, now. Because every second, light from farther away can reach us. The universe, the universe as you know it, is growing.” He said, and shot her a look.   
  
Her face was a blank mask, but there was fear there, in her eyes. Fear of him. “I know, because I can feel all of them. You don’t- you can’t understand what that’s like. Human minds were never designed for that. You know that the sun is massive, but you don’t understand.” He said, and she did look afraid. Tony sighed. “Look. I am voluntarily telling you what I’m capable of. I’m not- this isn’t a threat. I’m not-”   
  
“Human.” Natasha interrupted, and caught off guard, Tony blinked. “Human minds can’t comprehend it. But you can.”   
  
“But I can.” Tony agreed. “I don’t know how, really, my brain should’ve melted by now, but I can.” He took a deep breath. He knew how terrifying this must be to her, must be to everyone who knew, but he had one last card to play. “I can’t hurt the earth.” He said, and she frowned, the tiniest furrow between her brow. “I can’t,” He repeated, “Because they won’t let me. The stars won’t let me use them to hurt their children.”   
  
She blinked at him. “You say that like they care. Like they’re capable of caring.” She accused.   
  
Tony spread his hands. “Because they do. Every one of them that holds life, they love it, and they’re so proud of it.” He said. “And they don’t understand death the same way we do, because they don’t die, they just… don’t, even when they go supernova or collapse into a black hole, it’s not death, they’re not ceasing in any way.” He took a deep breath, needing her to understand. “But they know what death is. They’ve seen civilisations die, and they will do anything in their power to stop theirs from dying. From being killed.”   
  
“Even if that threat is you.” She said, and Tony could see it, see that she understood, that even if he did try to burn the world, he couldn’t.   
  
“I think, yes. Even if it’s me.” He said, and Natasha hopped off the counter and breezed by him.   
  
She tapped the file. “Read it.” She said, and she was gone.   
  
But Tony wasn’t alone.

* * *

  
  
Tony closed the file with a final-sounding thud. “Fury’s really quite scared of me, Isn’t he?” He asked, amused.   
  
“Sir, I think he is rather terrified of you.” JARVIS answered.   
  
Tony laughed, warm and bright as a sun, and let the stars shine out of his eyes. “As he should be, J. As they should be.”

**Author's Note:**

> Come hang out at my [Tumblr!](https://rowantreewrites.tumblr.com/)

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Infinite](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12734709) by [autisticaizawashouta](https://archiveofourown.org/users/autisticaizawashouta/pseuds/autisticaizawashouta)




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